Snow in Summer is Hardly Legal
by PikasPuma
Summary: Summer begins for Silver with a need for cash. Unfortunately, the only place he can work at is the coffee shop where his estranged father, Shadow does, and coincidentally where his real mom worked before she died. Awkwardness and lore ensues. Sequel to Snowflakes. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

Another summer rolled in on the nineteenth of May; final exams for some of the high school districts passed like rain clouds.

Silver stretched his back and arms as he and his older brother Venice walked home through Sonic City. "Summer, huh?"

"Swimming season!" his hydrokinetic brother exclaimed. _"Woo!" _

Silver shook his head. "All you ever think about swimming and girls, Venice?" A _vrrrvrrrooooo _announced a motorcycle peeling down the street. The younger silver hedgehog stuck his tongue out as if looking at an ice cream sundae.

"Ooohh... little brother wants a _big boy _bike," Venice snickered. "You got cash, Silv?"

Five months ago, yes he would have, but now- he whined like a puppy.

"You need a summer job, lil bro."

"Waah."

"No ice cream weekends and pizza parties for you."

_"Waaah."_

"It ain't that bad, Silv!"

"It is when your face was plastered over Sonic City for a week! Who wants to hire a juvenile delinquent?"

"You'll figure something out, won't you?" Venice stopped and looked across the street, nodding. Silver asked what it was before he saw the coffee shop across the way. "Steam Shop" done in an industrial style, with realistic rust stains.

"Oh, not there."

"Oh come _on, _they love you! You're family to them."

Silver gave Venice a look that expressed circular reasoning. The people that ran that shop in particular was what made him uneasy. One of them was his biological father. They were the reason he wouldn't be able to find work anywhere else. And if that wasn't awkward enough, he hadn't seen them since that twisted entity piggybacked on his quest and tried to destroy them all.

"You want that bike don't you?" Venice coaxed. "Besides, I bet they'll chip in for you, too."

Gulping, Silver ran across the street careful not to get hit by cars or buses. He jogged across the parking lot to the Steam Shop's entrance. Several signs were taped on the inside of the glass: an ad for an upcoming performance by a theater troupe, a health rating, and the last, red-on-white message, "Help Wanted - Apply Within."

Taking a deep breath, Silver walked into the coffee shop. Steel-legged tables and rusted metal finish put the "Steam" in this shop. There were a few customers, quietly sipping their drinks. No one was in the front-

"Hey, Haku!" Neo Metal Sonic called out as soon as his head poked out of the back. "Guess who's here." He walked over to Silver, who gave an awkward wave after calling out. "Hi there, Silver. How are you?"

"I'm okay," he offered, scooting onto a barstool. "How's the coffee business?"

"Well, we only have three employees working at max, each of which live at the same place, so most of the funds go back to the coffee house. And this has worked for... sixteen years, now? So, yeah, I'd say we're doing all right."

"Silver!" Haku Fukui called out as she swung her legs over the counter and squeezed Silver tight. "Oh, it's so good to see _yooou!"_

Silver could only squeak a reply. She finally let go and flashed a big smile at him before lifting her shoulders a bit. "Shadow's not in today."

Silver adverted his eyes, then, "That's not... not why I'm here."

"You want a summer job?" Metal asked. Silver snapped to attention as he hadn't- "Lucky guess. We _are _only a three-man coffee house, so we'd be happy to take you on."

"Metaru," Haku whispered, leaning in to his ear. "He's only fifteen."

"It wouldn't be a problem," Metal said. "One: it's summer, school's out, so classes won't interfere with his work. Two: _if _he likes working for us and he stays during the fall and _if _ someone were to find out, all we'd have to say was that he lied on his application."

"That's _illegal,_ isn't it?" Silver whispered.

"Frowned upon," Metal corrected. "Not illegal." He walked towards the back, and Haku leaned over Silver.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "Metal knows his loopholes. It'll be fine."

"That's not... what I'm worried about," he mumbled.

She "ooohhhhh"-ed and scooted off the counter onto the adjacent bar stool to rub his shoulder. "Worried about Shadow?"

"Yeah... I think I..." he bit his lip, "I think I hurt him a little the last time we-"

"I'm sure Metal can twist the schedules in your favor," she said. "It'll be fun working here, and we could use some extra hands: Metal's considering offering delivery."

_"Delivery?" _Silver said, tilting his head. "You mean, like delivering coffee to an office building?"

"Yeah, sound crazy," she said, English slipping, "but when you think about it, if people want coffee at work, why not call to have coffee come to you? And Metal's looking up special motorbikes so everything stays safe."

Metal Sonic reappeared with a piece of paper. He slid it across the counter. "Fill everything out to your best ability. You don't have to lie- this'll only be seen by me."

Silver nodded, taking the application and putting it in his backpack. "Do I have a due date or...?"  
"No rush. If you change your mind, just let us know, okay?"

Silver stood up, shifting the backpack onto him. "Yeah, I'll do that."

"Hey, Silver," Haku said, holding a chocolate-covered... ball?- "Have a _bossche bol, _on the house."

Taking the ball, SIlver raised an eyebrow at her android boyfriend, who said, "You know Haku, always the cosmopolitan." They waved him off and he went on his way home.

"Hello, Silver!" Mom greeted him as he walked in. "How was your last day at school?"

"Tests," he grumbled, then went into his room. He began to undertake the tedious process of filling out the application... and a bunch of questions bounced around his head. Is this a good idea maybe I should check someone else I mean he's my dad no he's not awkward if we run into each other at the family business I guess I mean they are like family...

Oi. Silver let his face fall on the desk. So much for clear skies and easy breezes... here comes a storm of drama.

The _bosshe bol _was sitting on his desk like a gold idol. You picked me up. Prepare for a trap to spring.

Silver picked it up and took a chomp out of it, to be met with a pastry outside and a whipped cream center. His tongue disintegrated into sugar after finishing it off, but it went down like a birthday cake.

* * *

"Hey, Metal," Haku asked, "are you going to tell Stripes?" Her android boyfriend turned to give her a blank expression that she read as "Are you stupid or something of course not."

"What if he shows up and sees Silver here? What are you going to say to that?"

"We'll see," Metal buzzed. Haku _pssh-_ed. "You can tell him, if you so desire."

"Nah," she sighed. "I think we'll just see what happens. Cross your fingers that nothing bad happens when it goes down."

"I _will _say that we'll be having a new employee so he has some time to catch on," he offered.

Haku snorted and shook her head. "He's not going to catch on."

"Well, it's summer. He'll be less sad. More focused."

"Focused on his job as a photographer at the mall."

"He might even go on another backpacking adventure."

"Ha ha. Then we'll _truly_ be a three-man coffee shop."

"Two-and-a-half," Metal corrected. "He's only fifteen."

"But he's smart."

"He's _naive. _And stubborn."

"This is going to be a _great _summer, eh, Metaru?"


	2. Chapter 2

_She was tugging along a small black suitcase with wheels in the middle of the night, half-looking for someone. Really, though, she didn't expect to run into him at midnight as she walked down the dark city streets. She was just walking around with a suitcase full of money, looking around the other side of Sonic City she'd never seen before. Mobians leaning against walls smoking, gave her once overs as she passed._

"Heeyy,_ pretty lady."_

_"Did your boyfriend forget to pick you up at the airport?"_

_"What's in the bag?"_

_She ignored them, and they went back to loitering. Still... where was she going? She wouldn't get far if she left by train... plane... bus..._

_"Selene?"_

_"Lennie? Hey, _Śnieżka!"_ A blue car pulled alongside the sidewalk, with a gray hedgehog hanging out of it._

_"Haku?" the hedgehog stopped, tugging her suitcase to her side. There were three people in the car: a hedgehog-android, the gray hedgehog and- "Shadow?"_

_"What are you doing here?" Haku asked, then shook her head._

_"Selene? You're running away?" he asked after looking over the suitcase in her possession. "Where are you going to go?"_

_"I don't know yet," Selene said, shrugging. "I'm just..."_

_"We're off to _Allodole!"_ Haku boasted. "Fancy, eh?"_

_"Allodole?" the black-haired hedgehog echoed._

_"Yeah, only a few hours out of Sonic City," the metal hedgehog inputted._

_"Come with us, Selene," Shadow offered, holding out his hand. She fidgeted before giving him a smile and taking his hand and climbing in next to him._

_"What are we waiting for? _Viva Allodole!"

* * *

"Where's Selene's kid?" the yellow-orange hedgehog asked. Her curly red-orange hair was pulled away from her face, looking like a sloppy, messy bun.

"Aurora..." Theia Phoenicia sighed. "I don't think that-"

"Who was hiding him? That Fukui girl- the one that got into that accident?"

"Y-yes, Aurora, but-"

"And she lied to your face about him being there. She knows something, mom. I can't just sit here wondering- I have to know."

"Helios went to talk to Haku after the Silver went to his family-"

"We're his family."

"Aurora, I don't think that-"

"Helios has another family, mom! He doesn't care about Selene anymore."

"That's not true- Helios loved Selene-"

"So why didn't he ask more questions? Why was he so willing to let Selene's 'friend' feed him answers?" She tightened her fists and grumbled. "I'm sorry, mom, but I can't just sit here and let things be as they are."

Hyperion stared at his daughter wondering if... "You're just upset that she's gone, Aurora," he said, calmly. "I was too. But you need to forgive yourself."

"Forgive myself? I'm not the one who needs to forgive me!"

"She's gone, Aurora, and there's nothing we can do about it."

Aurora glowered at her father- Selene was a psychic, she might still be around! She'd been hanging around with her grandmother, Minerva, looking for a way to communicate with her dead sister.

"Where does she live?"

"Aurora?"

"I just want to talk to her," she said, trying not to grind her teeth. She didn't really remember this- Haku girl, but she couldn't trust her.

What happened to her? Who's the dad?

I have to know.

* * *

"Welcome aboard!" Haku exclaimed, amazingly chipper for four in the morning. Silver was still yawning. "Aww, he's half asleep, poor baby!"

Metal slid over a mug of hot cocoa. "Make him a _chouquette_ or something sugary," he suggested before retreating into the back. Silver blinked like a dazed toddler.

"You get used to it after awhile, sweetie," the buxom hedgehog cooed, petting his head as she set down a plate of warm, sugar coated beignets. First Dutch and now these. Where'd she get all these recipes? And why were they so good?

"Did you travel a lot?" he mumbled through a beignet.

She hummed and nodded. "My pa loved to travel, and my ma loved her hometown, Chun-nan. You know, they make special candy there, called Dragon's Beard." She started rambling on in broken English until Metal put a hand on her shoulder.

"Haku? Can you take care of the pastries, before we open?"

"Oh, yeah, Metaru," she said before picking up her frappuccino and sipping it, walking off to flick on a fluorescent light around the corner. Metal watched Silver gnaw on the beignet like a hypoglycemic zombie.

"Don't worry about falling asleep on the job," he offered. "It takes time to get used to the hours. You'll watch us work drive-thru for now."

"You have a drive-thru?" Silver's question buzzed past the pastry in his mouth. Metal nodded, then beckoned him over to a little window and counter.

"Drive-thru opens earlier than the dining room," Metal says, flicking a few buttons as he looked up at a digital clock. "Sometimes we open earlier than normal, since some people go in even earlier." He watched a screen come on and show a pickup waiting next to the order box.

"Hello? Are you guys open?"

"Yes, we're open," Metal buzzed to no one. He probably had the frequency in him, since he was walking over to the coffee machines. "What can I get you?"

The buzzing voice asked for a lot of complicated names, and ordered a foreign pastry. Supposedly off-air, Metal called, "Haku!"

"_Ja?"_

"Do you have the macarons ready?"

"_Ja, natürlich!"_

"I need the six-assortment."

"_Verstanden!"_

As this exchange happened, Metal had already told the driver the total and to pull up to the window. Haku came with a bag, handing it to Metal with a _"Für du, mein Metallmausi."_

""'_Mein Metall_igel," he said before sticking his head out the window to hand off the coffee and the bag of macarons. The first sale of the day, around ten dollars.

"Ten dollars for these little things?" Silver asked as he held a tiny macaron between his thumb and forefinger. It was a few hours into the shift now, and a few more people were coming in and out, just for coffee, it seemed. Silver was sitting in the pastry area where Haku worked endlessly.

"Ten dollars when combined with a large cup of house coffee," Metal said from the unseen. Haku was covered in flour or sugar and was currently pulling and twisting strings like taffy before rolling them around in flour... or something like that.

"You make noodles too?" he asked, and she laughed at him as she let the dough fall from one hand- and it looked like hair.

"_Ani, _no," she laughed, putting the strings or noodles, or whatever down next to the flour bowl. She started laying part of them flat and pulled them apart from the loop and stretched it a little before pulling a few apart and holding it in the palm of her left hand. She took a tool to scoop a bit of powder into the center before using the other end and folding the strings over and over on themselves.

"Here, you try," she said, sliding the little patty into his palm. He raised an eyebrow before taking a bite.

It was sweet, not savory as he'd expected. "It's good!" he chewed, popping the rest of it into his mouth. "What is it?"

"_Kkultarae. _Court cake."

"Where'd the honey come from?"

"Hee hee, that's the string. The strings are made of honey. Then you twist it around in the cornstarch to make one thousand and six hundred strings."

"How do you remember all these recipes? It's amazing."

"Well, I travelled a lot, and I guess..." she went quiet, before shaking her head. "I got real sad for a time... Long story. So I made pastries. A lot of them. _Appa _and _Eomma _would come home to find the kitchen full of tiny cakes like an international buffet," she laughed. "They never got mad at me for that... the kitchen empty and a bunch of pasties and such... It's funny... I made all that stuff because I was hungry, then I just wouldn't eat them."

Her mood had gotten borderline sad, like someone talking about the last thing they said to a loved one before they got hit by a car. Silver stiffened, "I'm sorry- I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay," she said, continuing to work. "That was a long, long time ago. Talking helps."

"So... uh.. what happened to you?" he said, sitting down and watching her work.

"I got into a bad accident. You know, like a how did that happen one?"

"A freak accident?" Silver gasped.

"Yeah. I was put in a coma for a few months... the docs did most of the surgery when I was under, and my parents had to make all the tough decisions..." She took a deep breath before continuing. "So when I woke up, my hair was really short and one of my eyes were covered up, and my arm was too strong- just a lot of freaking out over it, panicking that the world went on without you for months... Just really... really strange."

She rolled a _kkultarae _over itself before going on. "When I was able to function, you know, work out my arm, and my eye, sort of calm down? After that, when I went home... my long-time boyfriend... uh... he... he broke up with me."

Silver's ears pricked up. "Was- was he in the accident with you? Why'd he do that?"

"I don't know... he wasn't with me in the accident- he probably got a call from my parents or something when they found out... but I was under for about three months, so... I'm not sure if he started to move on... or if... if he was so turned off by the fact that I couldn't have children anymore that he just-" she took a deep breath and Silver was worried Haku would shut down and cry or something- " I don't know why, Silver." The hedgehog's breathing steadied and she just nodded to herself. "I don't know... but... it hurt me."

"Because... you needed him?"

"Yeah... I needed him."

Silver looked away at a fallen piece of pastry on the floor. He didn't want to ask after this, not really, but... he was curious...

"Was this before or after you met Selene?"

"Hm? Oh... after. I met Selene senior year. It was after I graduated when I got into that accident. I didn't see her again until I started working here, with Metal."

Then she started getting less sad and more energized from the funny stories she started running off. It didn't start so funny, though...

"So there I was, looking for a job, right? I find _this_ hole-in-the-wall, yeah? and walk in to get an application. I walk up to the counter and I'm asking this washed-up boy-band guy about it, when suddenly, the guy behind me puts me in a choke hold and puts a gun to Shad's head.

"'Nobody move or this girl's getting offed!'

"Shad's startled but I didn't really care about him, right? I'm in a chokehold, so I do the only reasonable thing, and just pro-wrestle drop this #$ % to the ground!"

"Holy _crap!" _Silver breathed. He couldn't really imagine Haku- _Haku!- _dropping an armed robber after an accident. "You _threw him?"_

"_Ja, ja, _slammed him. Little did I know Shad's packing behind the counter just waiting to spring on the dude. He got knocked out soon as I threw him but a big guy got up and sat on him for me."

Silver laughed, "Oh my- did-did they hire you right then and there?"

"Hee-hee. Nah, still had to do the application."


	3. Chapter 3

"How was your first day at work, honey?" Mom asked as Silver walked in after five. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Did you eat lunch?"

"Yup," he yawned, before curling up on the couch. Like Haku would let him leave on an empty stomach. Vienna laughed and pulled a blanket over his tired body.

"Did you know Haku was a mixed martial arts student?" he mumbled.

"Hm?"

"Haku... she works there..." Silver remembered Vienna didn't know the names and faces of his other family. "I...I'll introduce you, if you want."

"Your father went to that coffee shop a few times before. He said the staff there were like a family."

'They all live in the same house together," he explained before yawning into sleep.

"I remember he said years ago that this girl ran into the restaurant to tell one of them she was pregnant."

* * *

Shadow woke up, shaking his head before putting a hand to his forehead. It was coated in cold sweat. He didn't know why he was getting nightmares _now, _the start of summer. Maybe...

_You haven't talked to him. See how he's doing._

No, no... the less he interfered the better. Silver seemed eager to go back to his real family with the Hedgehogs, without any questions whatsoever.

"Shadow?" Metal Sonic called from downstairs, "Are you up?"

"Yeah," he called back, rubbing his brow. "Just woke up."

"Coming down for breakfast or what?"

Why am I thinking about her _now? _"I'll be right there, just a minute..." He slid out of bed and shuffled downstairs, rubbing his forehead as he waddled into the kitchen.

"There he is," Haku said, and Shadow half-waved to her as he yawned. "Hee hee. What, is it your day off or something?"

"No, the studio's gone under," he sighed. "I'll get my last paycheck... day after tomorrow, I think."

Metal Sonic's computer whirred. "The company was bought out, and you're receiving compensation for it? Where are you going to work now?"

_"Shadow!"_

Shadow put a hand on his forehead as if silencing her- but-

_"Wha- Lennie? What's-"_

"I'm pregnant."

He fell against the counter and Haku and Metal rushed over to him, calling his name.

"Shadow! What's wrong?"

"He's having a panic.." Their voices started fading away... and all Shadow could hear was...was...

"Shadow!" Selene pushed open the door, making the chime go off as she rushed to the counter. Shadow was already stepping out to meet her, and she nearly toppled them both over.

"Lennie- Lennie, what's wrong?" Did-did she run all the way from-

"Shad- shadow-"

"Calm down," he said, squeezing her arms a bit. "Just calm down..."

"I'm pregnant."

Shadow stopped squeezing before feeling weightless, and he blinked. "Preg-pregnant?"

_"Yes."_

"So-so... I'm-"

"Yeah."

"And you-re-"

_"Yeah."_

"And we're-"

She threw her hands around his neck and he spun her around, balloons tied together and spinning up into the sky.

"Drinks are on the house!" Metal announced while some clapped. "Shado... Can you... me?"

_ "Sh...dow... _wake up..."

"Please wake up."

He wasn't in the coffee shop anymore, now... he was on the kitchen floor being pulled up by Bolts and Booze, the latter with big eyes like he'd fell down a well. Metal spoke calmly, "Shadow? Can you hear me? Are you awake?"

Shadow felt his heart beating a mile a minute, was- did he just have a-

"What's... what's going on?" he mumbled, reaching for his chest. "H-heart attack?"

"No. Much worse, I'd say," Metal sighed, putting a cold, skeletal hand on Shadow's forehead. "You just had a panic attack."

* * *

"Do... do you really think this is a good idea?" Shadow asked as Metal and Haku walked him up the steps to the office building, towards a space named Someone &amp; Someoneelse Psychiatric Associates. He didn't really remember being one-on-one with a stranger about something but... he didn't remember a lot of things, like names.

_Who's this, this girl I keep seeing sometimes, Metal?_

_ What does she look like?_

_ I... I don't know..._

_ You _see _her, but you can't...?_

_ It's all... fuzzy._

"We'll be right there with you, Stripes," Haku cooed as Metal pushed open the door. "We'll be right next to you, 'kay?"

"Hey, you think... you think Selene saw these guys?" he wondered absently. "Like, what if, right?"

"I dunno. Her parents had prescriptions for her, but I don't know about any shrink."

"Hm. Maybe that's what we were there for."

"Pretty sure you don't go to Allodole with your shrinks."

"Ha."

A few minutes of joking around and Metal came up to them, "She's ready to see us, now." Shadow's ears prickled and his body went stiff, snapping to attention. Haku patted his shoulder as he stood up and followed Metal into the room, where Dr. Erato waited.

She was an interesting character to look at; she was a gray margay with silky fur that if it caught the light just right it looked like-

_"Yo-you?"_

He smacked his forehead as if a mosquito had started biting him, wincing.

"Something the matter?" Dr. Erato asked, ears flicking at the black hedgehog.

He grumbled a little before managing, "It's... it's okay. It's not like..."

"He's not going into an attack," Metal finished, giving Shadow room to breathe. "Although, this is something he's been doing a lot of over the years. It's possible... that those lead up to that episode we mentioned."

"I see," she hummed, clicking her pen to start her notes. "So... Shadow...what exactly do you see... recently, I mean, during these, small episodes of yours?"

He sighed, taking a deep breath, happy that Haku and Metal flanked him like guard dogs. In...

"I see my dead girlfriend." Dr. Erato flinched, eyes widening. Maybe she was expecting denial., or reluctance, not an immediate answer. Shadow went on anyway. "Sometimes an image... sometimes a memory, or her voice."

The shrink regained her composure and cleared her throat. "I'm... um... I'm sorry to hear that... When-when exactly did she pass?"

"About sixteen years ago," Metal inputted.

"She...she died young."

"In an accident?" The Crew nodded, quickly. "And how old was she?"

"Seventeen," Haku answered. "She would've turned eighteen in a week or so, but..."

Dr. Erato shook her head a little. "But... why didn't you seek help sooner? I-if you don't mind me asking..."

They all exchanged a look between each other before Shadow nodded and managed, "It... it wasn't a problem... I-I mean... we were coping... until last year."

"What happened last year..?"

"Around the time she died... her son showed up out of nowhere."

The psychiatrist almost dropped her pen. "Her...her _son?"_

"Lennie..." Haku mumbled, "she was pregnant... before she passed, she gave birth to him-"

"I thought it was best if he was raised by a normal family," Metal broke in. "Since... since we all took Lennie's death very hard."

The margay seemed to have no clue where to go from here, her eyes darted around for an answer. "I-this is a lot to process..." she cleared her throat again before continuing. "Right... so- 'Lennie,' your dead girlfriend, died about sixteen years ago, but after giving birth to a son... which, I assume, is yours?" She pointed her pen at Shadow and he shrunk under its glare. He nodded, shying away.

"So... you put him up for adoption, and last year he showed up at your house? What happened then?"

Shadow felt himself sinking into the chair as he answered. "I... I couldn't face him as his father. I made my friends lie to him that I had died in the accident with his mother, and that he had no family left."

"Did he believe them?"

"No... he got angry... and he called them out on it."

"So... he never found out who you were?"

"No... but eventually he went back to his family, who adopted him."

"And... you think this is where the panic is coming from not telling him the truth, setting down with him and explaining why you couldn't raise him?"

Shadow shrugged, I thought this is what you're here for, to find out my problems for me? "I guess..."

"You need closure," she remarked, seeming to finally bounce back from all the secrets they had sprung on her. "So you should talk to your son, and tell him the truth."

Shadow nodded, even though he knew that was impossible. Tell him the truth? He _knows _the truth. He chose his family, and it wasn't me.

"But..." Haku started, "what about the ones with Lennie in them? He can't... can't talk to her."

Dr. Erato nodded in understanding, saying, "I'll think about that, for next time. But for now, I want you to meet with your son... um... what did you say his name was?"

"Gladio," Haku butted in, and then it was all over.

"Gladio?" Metal and Shadow echoed out of the building.

She shrugged, saying, "Got it from _Gladiolus, _or something."

Metal's computer hummed before remarking, "Narkissos would've fit better."

* * *

It was closing time at last. Dr. Erato sighed as her receptionist left her in the dark, but she was more concerned about the patients she'd seen today. Something wasn't sitting right with her.

When she picked up her bag and her notepad fell out, she picked it up and remembered. Yes, that group of hedgehogs- or, the two hedgehogs and that one robot that _looked _like a hedgehog. Something wasn't right.

The father gave up his child after the mom had died and last year the son ran off to find him... She'd heard that story before...

Yes, that was it- that kid that ran off last year looking for his real father, but... the mom had died shortly after giving birth... that was eerie too. Maybe there was something else to this 'Shadow.'

What else had he been lying about?


	4. Chapter 4

"You _never _loved me! You only wanted me to be _her! I'll never be Aurora!"_

"Shut up, you ugly jealous *%#$," Aurora broke, hoping Selene would just stop with this nonsense. She just wanted attention, but she'd come around.

Selene didn't disintegrate. Her dark blue eyes glinted as she puffed a laugh.

"You're one to talk."

When Aurora blinked, Selene was on the ground, holding her face under her long hair. Her hand was open, and it stung a little.

That was the last time Aurora ever saw Selene alive again. She woke up screeching sixteen years later, wailing. Fifteen years ago, she didn't think anything of Selene running off. She'd come back. She was too weak; she'd come back saying sorry.

She disappeared, and died. There was no apology, not even a chance to.

I have to find the father. I have to find them both. Her grip tightened on the sheets, as if it was the father's neck.

If he hurt her... I'll _kill_ him.

* * *

"Wow, Shadow!" she beamed, skipping ahead of him. "I can't believe I got on with you- that was _amazing! _I feel like I'm still flying!"

He watched her jump around ahead of him, spinning and giggling and- this wasn't the girl who tried to drown herself a month or so ago, was it? Was this what she was meant to be?

"Hey, Shadow! Come on, we're gonna miss the crosswalk light!" She turned around and saw him lagging, then stopped bouncing on her toes. "Shadow? What's the matter?"

He just smiled at her. "You were kicking and screaming the whole way," he lied, crossing his arms. "I think you owe me an apology."

"What? For that? You can't be serious."

"You're right. But you owe me something."

"Huh?"

"I said, 'Lennie, I promise nothing's gonna happen to you as long as you come with me,' and you said, 'I won't enjoy it, just to warn you,' and I said, 'Oh yeah? If you don't enjoy it, I'll buy you a milkshake in one of those expensive souvenir cups, but if you _do _enjoy it, _I _get to have something from you.' And you said 'Deal.' So here we are, in Allodole, on Pleasure Street, with you bouncing around like a pinball. So _I _get what I want."

She laughed nervously. "Okay, so what do you want?"

"I want you to stay."

"Huh?"

"I want you to come live with us back in Sonic City. Me, Metal, Haku and you."

"Shadow-"

"Come on, Lennie. We'll take care of you. I won't let anything happen to you."

"But-" she looked scared in her eyes, but she didn't shiver. Just _tell her._

Her ears picked up, and she locked eyes with him, "Tell me what?"

"If something happened to you, I'd never forgive myself- Let me take care of you."

Her ears twitched, and a little pink came to her cheeks. Shadow did the same and he turned, biting his tongue. _Me- I meant _we- we, _ah-_

"Do you really mean that?" she whispered, and he had to turn and face her before she elaborated, "A-about... taking care of me. You...you would do that?"

He stared at her, taking a deep breath before finally saying, "Yes, Selene. I would." _Say _it. Tell her! "Because- Because..." he had to take another breath, then, "Because I love you, Selene."

Her face went bright red and her dark eyes widened. His words flooded back into his mouth and he felt like he was drowning. Aw, #-

"You...you do?" she breathed, and her eyes... looked wet. _Say something!_

"Yes- I do... I-"

She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face into his chest. He wobbled a bit but caught himself and put a hand on the back of her head, starting to pet her black hair. She shook, was she crying? He rocked her back and forth, cooing.

"It's okay to cry, Selene... Crying's o-"

As he was saying "okay," he looked down and suddenly his lips were locked with hers. Half a second and she jerked back, holding her mouth.

"I...I didn't-" she started, but then she shook her head before marching over and wrenching his shirt collar and pulling him into a kiss again. He held her tight this time.

"I love you too," she whispered as she laid her head on his shoulder.

* * *

Metal Sonic watched Silver as he wiped down the tables at the start of lunch break. He was on the last two, and then he'd have to sweep the floors and change the trash bags. He was making good time, though, and being thorough. Hard worker, sure. But how long would that hold?

_"Shiruba! Yin! _Come to the back, _please," _Haku cried out. The young hedgehog set down the rag and hurry to the back.

"What's with all this names?" he mumbled as he stepped into the back. "Haku? What's wrong?"

"Look at this! Isn't it pretty?"

"...It's a... cake?"

_"Baka!" _Haku hissed, "It's a _choklad souffle!" _She started rambling on in Swedish about how difficult making a soufflé was, and that it had taken months of failed experimenting to create this perfect puffy dessert.

"Now _mange! Iss! NOW!"_

Metal walked into the back before Silver dove into the soufflé to see how it turned out. The dish was about to deflate, and Haku was right to demand Silver to start eating it. He picked at it with his fork and chomped into it, probably expecting cake, but-

"Oh, wow," he mumbled through his bite. "It's puffy, not like a cake."

"Look, Metaru! I did it! _Ich hab's geschafft! Ich habe Soufflé machen!"_

He nodded, _"Ja, ja, du h__abst! Sieht lecker aus! Ich wünsche ich könnte es Essen."_

_ "Danke schön, Metal." _She winced, then asked, _"Bist du... gut?"_

_ "Ja, ich komme gut zurecht. Macht nichts."_

"Um... Haku?" Silver poked into this foreign exchange. "Would you like some of this?"

"Sure!" she chirped, setting down on the table and digging into her masterpiece, humming. "I finally did it this time," she chewed. "I have to call mom and dad about it, right away!" She rushed around the corner and started talking Chinese to her mother about how she finally made the elusive dish, the devilish chocolate soufflé!

It does look tasty, Metal admitted, finding his hand over his muzzle... which was made of metal, without an opening, digestive tract, or taste buds. He tapped his metal fingers on his metal snout. _Clink clink clink..._

He cursed at himself. If he had a digestive tract, he would have to rely on food, if he had to rely on food, he would be susceptible to changes in supply, food poisoning, etc, etc, etc.

Still... it would be nice to feel a breeze... or smell grass after it rained... or be able to kiss Haku back.

Ich komme _nicht _gut zurecht.

* * *

"So, have you thought about what the doc said?" Haku asked Shadow as they waited for a pizza to arrive via Metal around the island in the kitchen. "About seeing Silver and having a little chat?"

"I thought about it," he admitted, resting his head on his hand. "But it just seems like it'd just make things worse. For him, I mean. What about his family with the Hedgehogs? Do you really think he'd be happy as Silver Narkissos Phoenicia, here?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I think about it sometimes, but, I think we were lucky when those nice hedgehogs picked him up in the park. It wasn't the best way to get him away from you, but it worked, yeah? Anyway... forgetting all the time-alien blood-mumbo-jumbo, _if _he was with us, I don't think he'd faired any better. I mean, if Lennie was still alive, that'd be one thing, but... if she wasn't... what if we looked at him the wrong way?"

"Yeah... that's what I thought. What if... what if we raised another tragic Phoenicia tale?"

"You did the right thing," she assured, patting his shoulder. "It was hard, I know... hard for all of us to keep him from you. But... it had to be done, you know?"

"Yeah..." Shadow slumped onto the counter with a heavy sigh. "Do you think that shrink is going to make us play with a Ouija board or something?" Haku hummed, then started giggling before erupting in laughter at Shad's comment. He smirked and chuckled before Metal came in with a large pizza, still hot.

"All right, you savages," he announced, holding the pie in the air. "I have brought you your sacrifice- I hope it pleases the irritable gods that are your stomachs, and will favor me for another day."

"Put the pizza on the counter and nobody loses an arm."

* * *

**AN: Sorry about all that German! -D-;**

**In short, Metal says "Looks delicious, I wish I could eat it" which makes Haku concerned since eating and feeling and so on is a touchy subject around Metal, who is unable to do such things. I just put in German so I could brush up on mine, and I'll _try_ not to do so in the future.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay, Silver," Metal Sonic said, a few minutes shy of the dining room opening, "time for your performance assessment."

"My _what?" _The hog felt his body tense up. There was a glint to Metal's dead gaze that said lasers and math was involved, and his fur stood on end. Would pencil and paper be provided alongside an energy shield of somesort-

"How well you can do the job on your own," he elaborated. "Worst-case scenario, some super-hacker gets my system infected and Haku is leading the anti-zombie resistance and you're left on your own in a rule-less, manager-less, unsupervised future with a line out-the-door for coffee."

Silver tilted his head, scratching behind his ear. "That... that _is _pretty worst-case scenario."

"Glad you understand. Okay, Haku, give him the situation."

"We're out of napkins and somebody has painted the tile red with someone's innards."

"Oh my go-"

"Don't panic. What do you do?"

"Uh-uh... ca-call nine-one-one, and get someone to put pressure on the wound-"

"The assailant is still armed, Silver! You have to disarm him before he does someone else in. _Pull the gun out from under the cash register and aim for his shoulder and thigh-"_

Silver woke up, making Venice jerk back, almost sending the bowl of popcorn sailing across the room.

_"Geez, Silver!"_ Venice hissed, "Are you trying to give me a _heart attack?!" Sssshhh!-_es came from around the dark room, some punctuated by candy thrown in their direction.

The clock said two thirty-two am, and the only light was that coming from the television showing a hostage situation with a guy with a bloody knife standing off with a shaky rookie cop.

So that's where that came from, he sighed, looking around. Right, Ven's Swim Team and company, celebrating their wonderful sports season with slasher and thriller movies. At least it wasn't his upcoming performance assessment.

He rubbed his eyes and peeked behind the couch for the least inconsiderate escape route for the others. Avoiding tipping the couch over and crushing a sleeping MVP, Silver swung over the couch and tiptoed into his room before machine gun fire lit up the room like a rapid fire strobe light.

He curled up in his own bed and prayed that his performance assessment had nothing to do with his biological father walking in on him working rush hour behind the counter.

* * *

Shadow wiped down the last remains of Mrs. Fukui's social gathering that evening. Exotic scents still lingered and fought with each other half an hour after they had left with Haku in tow. At least they didn't treat Metal and him like some sort of lower-class workers and as family. Many of them had endearing broken English and petted and cooed over them like they were the club puppies or something like that.

"So, you're going to give the new intern his assessment tomorrow?" he asked, going off something Haku had said earlier about getting rest for preparation.

Metal was stacking up the chairs on the other side of the room, but he looked towards Shadow before saying, "Yes, his performance assessment. He's shown promise, just hoping he can retain it."

"So what's he like? Not a #%#, I hope."

"No, the opposite, really. Sweet kid."

"Hmm," Shadow started to tilt his head. "Is he getting used to the hours?"

"He's been on for a week now, so I would think so."

"And... he's learned all the correct procedures and names?"

"Names, no... procedures, mostly."

"Right," Shadow puffed as he straightened up from wiping the counter. "Any chance he's the son of some girl I happened to know about sixteen years ago?"

"Hmm?" Metal buzzed. "Why would you ask?"

"Something about silver fur in chairs and a sense you don't really want to tell me about the new intern."

Metal didn't respond, he just beeped.

"So, Silver's working here now?"

"This was _before _your panic attack, mind. And he wasn't very excited about working here. Just so happens runaway kids don't really get jobs months after incident, and he was a bit hesitant about this being his last option."

Shadow nodded, letting it set in. "Hmm... imagine that. The shrink tells me to talk to my son, voila, he appears."

"Fate is funny, isn't it?" Metal Sonic buzzed. "But I'm not so sure that shrink knows the situation."

"I think she does," Shadow retorted, huffing. "I saw a newspaper clipping at her desk from last year's adventure, and an old stack of newspapers. I think she knows about 'Gladio-'"

"Narkissos, Narkissos would have fit better, I'm telling you."

"Why?" Shadow wondered aloud. "You keep saying that, but I don't see the connection. Isn't Narkissos the kid that fell out of the sky and drowned?"

"No. Narkissos fell in love with his own reflection, when the goddess Nemesis bewitched a pond to be as smooth as glass. Though most myths agree his parents were a river god and a fountain nymph, a few say that he was the son of the Titan goddess Selene, and her Endymion."

Shadow hummed, though he never thought of himself as Endymion. It was a cruel way to live forever, to be asleep- but that was Selene's fate. Forever asleep with eyes wide open and a snapped spine, hands clutching at a bundle too innocent to know he was freezing to death. He shuddered and shook his head fiercely.

_Stop._

Shadow took a deep breath and sighed. "I guess I'm coming into work tomorrow, too."

"What?" Metal almost dropped the chair he was holding and turned his head towards him. "That's not such a good idea-"

"I think it'd be good for me."

"I wasn't talking about you," Metal buzzed. "I'm worried about him. His request when he signed up that I agreed to was that you and he not share schedules."

"Really?"

"Yes. I told you, he wasn't happy about this being his last option for work."

"What does he want to work for? It's the start of summer. If I had one summer to myself, I'd be hitting the town, the beach, the entire world if I could. He doesn't owe anybody anything, does he?"

"Not that I know of. Something tells me it's a big-ticket item, like concert tickets or maybe a scooter."

Shadow puffed at scooter. "Scooters are for girls. If he is, like you like to say, _me, _he wants a motorcycle."

"I don't know how you did it, Watson," Metal whirred. "Is that so?"

"What? Were you honestly going to let a kid have his first motorcycle ride on a new bike as a coffee-delivery boy?"

"I'm not stupid. I've calculated the factors, and knowing how _unlucky _his father's life has been, I know it will take practice and time. I'm going to the bike shop the day after to look at the models. Come with?"

"#$%&amp; it, let's all go."

* * *

"Ah... Miss Aurora..." a man on the other end yawned. "What is it? Why are you calling so late?"

Aurora sat at her kitchen table with bags around her sharp blue eyes. "Mr. Fukui. Where does your daughter live?"

"Hmm? My Haku? She lives with her boyfriend."

"And where does she work?"

"She works at a coffee shop in the city. Why do you ask? Is this about Silver-kun?"

Silver. She wrote that down- was that the father or the son? She shook her head, then said, "Where is the coffee shop?"

He said the address, which she copied with haste, then Mr. Fukui mumbled, "Miss Aurora? Do your parents know what you are doing-"

She hung up on him and stared at the paper before her, with a series of numbers and letters that pointed her to Selene. Aurora wasn't letting her get away this time.


	6. Chapter 6

"Silver? Are you sure you don't want us to come cheer you on during your assessment?" Mom asked as he put on a jacket and started to zip it up. It was a foggy morning before the sun showed up, clouding Sonic City in unnatural cold. She handed him a bottle of hot chocolate before asking, "I could drive you to work, if you'd like."

"No, it's okay, Mom," Silver mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "I'll be okay."

"I don't want you running into a telephone pole," she admitted. "Try to stay on sidewalks, and make sure that you know _exactly _where you're going."

silver looked up at the sky, humming. Fog wasn't all the way up into the sky... maybe he could fly there?

"I'll be careful, Mom," he promised as she kissed him goodbye.

"Good luck, Silver. Stay safe!"

"I will!" he called back as he walked into the fog.

* * *

Aurora pulled her hair up and put on a hat and a coat. Fog, the weather man said. Cold fog, and reduced visibility. Please try to stay inside.

But Aurora knew that if she stayed inside, her parents would try to call and tell her to forget about Selene. As if she could.

_'Aurora! Aurora-"_

"Mom, calm down," Aurora said, mellowed after a busy college day. "Slow down. What's up?"

_"It's- _it's Selene-" The little crybaby come crawling back finally? Well, wasn't that neat, but Aurora sighed, ready to throw her mom off the subject.

"Selene is dead!"

Aurora froze up. Dead? What did she mean- "What do you mean she's dead?" She can't be dead. That's... that's outrageous.

_"They found her body- they-they say it was an accident-"_

"What do you mean she's dead?' No, Selene had to be playing a joke or something. Being a little attention whore was something she was good at. All that moping around and stuff, she was just playing, being a psycho.

Right?

_"Theia- Aurora?" _her dad was on the line now, he sounded a little shook up too. _"Aurora, listen to me. Selene's dead. The police received a call about a dead body and it's her."_

Time stopped. Everything went quiet. What... what did he mean by... but... that means...

The last night Aurora saw Selene she was picking herself up from being slapped by her older sister. She held her red cheek, flinching a little from the tenderness, the pain. But she didn't say anything, just went upstairs and shut her door.

"Aurora!" her mother gasped, face pale.

_"Aurora!" _her father had yelled at her.

Aurora's fur prickled. _"What?" _she whirled around to face them. "You heard her- she was talking crazy. She just doesn't like it because-"

_"Selene is clinically depressed, Aurora," _he said through clenched teeth. "And now I know why." He stormed past her, his eyes a hodgepodge of anger, and something else. Aurora had never had that glare lock eyes with her before.

Her mother was weeping and refused to look at Aurora.

When Aurora woke up, there were police officers down the hall, in Selene's room. They had on gloves and were putting things into small bags. One of the bags had a set of razors.

Since when did Selene have razors? And what for?

Mom and Dad weren't in the house, she found out when she found Helios sitting at the kitchen table with two investigators. They nodded as they wrote down something he'd said.

"Helios, what's going on?" she asked, and the two investigators glanced at each other and thanked Helios for his time as they left the room. "Why are the police here? Where's Mom and Dad?"

Helios stared at her, eyes red, and the saddest shade of blue Aurora had ever seen. What- what was going on?

"They're at the police station, filing a report," he mumbled, sounding dead.

"Report for what? What's happened?"

His eyelid twitched. "Selene's disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Aurora said, then blew a strand of her hair out of her face. "Are you sure she's not outside?"

He scowled at her. "Selene is gone. And so is her entire savings account, around a hundred thousand dollars. So _yes, _Aurora, I'm absolutely _positive _Selene isn't' outside _planting the flowers she bought to feed her new baby pegasus."_

The hostility surprised her, as did the fact that money was involved. "Why are you saying it like that? What did _I _do?"

He stood up and new tears were welling up. "You hit my baby sissy, is what you did. _You hit your own sister, _who happens to be a table _with one leg too short. _You slapped her because you think you're so special and perfect. You think that she's just acting for attention, because that's what _you _do, but she would never_ stoop to your level."_

He stormed past her, hissing, "Don't you _ever_ touch her again."

How was this _her_ fault?

Months went by. No sign of Selene. News stories died down. The case went cold. What was a living nightmare for Hyperion, Theia and Helios was a stupid game of hide-and-seek for Aurora. And she was _not _looking for Selene.

No matter how much she felt she needed too.

And Aurora went to where the body was taken in, and saw her sister snapped in half. Instantaneous death, the doctors said. She would have felt a crackling sensation and then nothing at all. She was probably in a car, since the force that was needed to kill her, and from all the glass embedded in her skin, face.

Her eyes were what got Aurora. They were wide open, full of fear, glazed over like a porcelain doll.

This is all your fault.

The first few weeks was spent looking around for newborn hedgehog babies recently put up for adoption around Sonic City, and the surrounding area. Hospitals, shelters, everywhere. But no such luck. They gave up a month-and-a-half in. Aurora still searched, missed her sister's funeral, still looking for a chance to say sorry, to make up.

Maybe it'd be today.

* * *

_"What are you doing?!" _Selene shrieked just as Haku was preparing to powerbomb Shadow off a table years ago. She was a few months along and Metal Sonic had driven her to the shop to hang around. She was wearing one of Shad's shirts half-tucked into some baggy jeans and her hair was in a ponytail over her shoulder. As Shadow squirmed he could see the way she was glaring at Haku the way someone glares at a little sibling on a crude step ladder to the cookie jar.

"What are you doing," she repeated, and Haku let go of her opponent who ragdolled to the floor. He sat up with a groan.

"Morning, Len-Lennie," Haku coughed, twisted smile twitching. Shadow was watching the soon-to-be mom, her face pinched in frustration. "How-how you feeling today?"

Selene took a deep breath but did not answer. Her stance didn't take well to chatter. Haku skittered off from the table and pushed in the chair she used to get on top of there.

"I...um... just," she stuttered.

"Don't even try it," Selene added. "I can hear you."

Beads of sweat formed on her friend's temple, and her smile faltered. "Um... Shadow- he didn't answer the question I asked him to, so uh-"

Selene took another deep breath and put a hand on her swelling stomach and Haku burst, "Omigod Selene, I'm so sorry, I was just playing with him- I wasn't trying to hurt him or anything like that, honest!- Oh, God, _are you okay?!"_

Lennie sighed and assured her panicking friend, "I'm fine, but if you keep shouting like that-"

"I'm so sorry," Haku gasped, quieting down. "I'm so, so sorry!"

Shadow brushed the dirt off his pants and stood up as Lennie urged Haku to calm down. "She means stop panicking and think about something quieter," he explained. "She can hear you- _thinking,"_ he grunted as he stood up.

"Sorry!" she whispered, and scurried off into the kitchen. Selene sighed as her hand went to her forehead.

"You okay?" He asked, guiding her over to a chair. She nudged him away and settled down.

"So that's what you've been up to?" she huffed. "Wrestling in the back room?"

"More like being a sandbag," Shadow replied. "The table takes more of a beating than I do."

"What did she mean you didn't answer her question?" she wondered.

"I'll make you a cocoa, okay?"

"Do you avoid questions like this all the time?" she laughed as he ran around making the drink. He came back with a frothy batch of hot chocolate, with a twist.

"I thought you were making hot chocolate."

"I did. Taste it." She sipped at the cappuccino-looking drink and hummed.

"What're you calling it?" she asked. "Cappu-chocolate?"

Shadow laughed as he pulled up a chair and sat down. "I wasn't planning on calling it anything yet. Just wanted to surprise you."

"Lucky day I guess," she said before continuing to drink it. "Any other day I might've hated it."

"So... do you want to know the question...or...?"

Lennie's ears pricked as she drank. "Hm? Oh, that. Not important. But you need to be thinking about your baby, here. What if he came in seeing his dad getting beat up by a _girl?"_

* * *

Silver walked into the back room just as Haku slammed Shadow into the table, destroying it. Metal Sonic was right behind him.

"what the $%#?!" Metal screeched as his girlfriend released the headlock on the limp hedgehog and stood up. "That table was _relatively new!"_

Haku brushed off the splinters on her clothes and fixed her hair as if she hadn't just knocked out a hedgehog. "We can get another one, no problem."

"Getting one isn't the problem- it's keeping one! And stop slamming Shadow into the ground before work!"

"Is he okay?" Silver asked, though, he wasn't sure what to think about Shadow here, on his performance assessment day. Maybe it was just luck Haku knocked him out...

A groan escaped the hedgehog, but he didn't move.

"He'll be fine," Metal assured, lifting the hedgehog up by the shoulders and dragging him to the left side, towards the office. "He's just going to have a massive headache when he wakes up...'

Once the pair disappeared around the corner, Silver turned to Haku. "What just happened?"

"We were playing truth or dare and he said 'truth,' but didn't answer the question. We do this a lot."

"So if one of you doesn't follow through, you slam each other into the _ground?"_

Haku shrugged as if she was a kid who broke a vase. "He'll be fine. Adamantium skull, that hedgehog. He makes a good battering ram."

From the office, "That's not a good thing, Haku."

"No wonder his memory's awful," Silver muttered.

* * *

"Ah, *&amp;%#," Shadow hissed as Metal handed him a bag of ice. "What the &amp;%$*, Haku!" His forehead felt dented and on fire. He could probably leave the bag on his head and it'd stay in the dent, hands free.

"Yes, I think she's too strong for her own good," Metal commented. Shadow growled at him. "You need to stop goading her on. We just lost another table from that move."

"Y'know, the last mood I wanted to be in when I saw Silver was pissed off," Shadow puffed. "I guess it's my lucky day." He took a deep breath, trying not to focus on the chalkboard-nails pain in the front of his skull. "So.. has the store opened?"

"A half hour ago. One, two customers inside. He can handle it. Haku's working drive-thru right now."

"How's he doing?"

"Very well, actually. You want to go see how he's doing?"

Shadow huffed as he stood up. "Isn't that what _you're _supposed to be doing?" Metal manufactured a chuckle and followed him out towards the back room, where the remains of a table were swept into a corner to be taken out to the trash later. They loitered around the entrance of the kitchen to watch the young hog work. He was wearing a bright green visor Haku had gotten some years ago when she started working, and he looked like a kid working a chain shop. He just needed a green apron and a cheesy smile and he'd be all set.

"Has he been manning the counter all morning?" he wondered.

"I've been doing drive-thru while he does the graveyard shift here," Metal explained. "With this fog, people are reluctant to leave their warm cars, unless they're eating breakfast," he gestured to the two customers in the dining room, spreading toppings on bagels or muffins alongside their hot drinks. Shadow recognized one of them as a regular and returned the wave.

Shadow's fur prickled as the chime announced a cold blast of air into the coffee house. It was that split second before an accident- that impulse-

_Silver-_

He watched a yellow orange hedgehog shut the door and look around the room. He could suddenly feel his cheek twitch as if he kissed asphalt.

Or got slapped in the face.

He felt like tackling Silver to the ground before the hedgehog saw him, but it was too late- she was making a beeline for the counter.

"How are you today m-"

"Is Haku working here today?" she asked. "I have to talk to her about something very important."

Silver flinched, caught off guard by the brisk nature of the woman. "Uh... well-"

Metal straightened up as his computer clicked and beeped. "Oh *#$%," he hissed. "That's Aurora Phoenicia."

"Selene's older sister," Shadow muttered, watching Silver and Aurora interact.

"She's been looking for Silver since Selene died," he explained. "She doesn't know what he looks like- she's... riddled with grief."

"Yeah, no *$#%. She slapped her in the face and never saw her again," Shadow huffed, glaring at the hedgehog from the doorway.

"She's not looking for Silver. She's looking for Selene."


	7. Chapter 7

"Step in there and save him," Shadow hissed at Metal, just as Haku squeezed between them.

"What's going on-" she stopped herself with a curse. "Metal, this might get ugly..." she breathed.

"The best I can do is closing the dining room at ten," he said. "I can't kick anyone out before then. Tell her that your break's at ten and you can chat then." She nodded and hurried over to Silver and Aurora.

"What about Silver?" Shadow asked.

Metal's red gaze fixed on him. "I'll talk to him and send him home before then." Talk to him? About how his bio-mom's family only sees Selene in his face and completely disregards the fact that he has no idea what his mother was like and is another person entirely? About how he's the last little player in this awful tragedy?

Shadow sighed and walked away, his headache dethroned by the pain in his chest.

* * *

"Hey, Metal," Silver asked as he slinked into the backroom, "Did you see that? What was with that orange hedgehog? Is she a friend of Haku's?"

Metal Sonic was sitting down like that hard inspector from one of the movies of Swim Night. "She's not a friend of Haku's. But... Silver, I need to talk to you about something."

Silver raised his eyebrow as he sat across the android. "Is this about my performance assessment?" But... I've only been working about an hour now... Did I do something wrong?

"No, but since you asked," Metal acquiesced, "you did very well. Considering that hiccup just now, you were very calm under pressure."

"So... what's this about, then?"

Metal Sonic's CPU whirred. "The woman you just saw who was asking for Haku is Selene's older sister, Aurora." Silver's fur prickled at the names. After last year... what trouble had he stirred up?

"She took her sister's death the hardest, from what I understand... and she's been looking for you ever since the autopsy confirmed she was pregnant."

He tilted his head. "So... where was she last year? Why didn't she show up?"

"I'm not so sure," the android admitted, "but she's not in the stablest condition."

"And she didn't recognize me from the news, either," Silver wondered. "Maybe she was away?"

"Maybe. But what's for sure is that she's looking for Selene's child."

Silver flicked his ear, "Um... you mean me?"

Metal buzzed a sigh, pointy metal fingers tapping together. "Well.. Silver," he began, "I know that that's what you've been hearing for a long time, but I don't think that's true anymore." The boy scooted his chair in closer.

"To the Phoenicias, you're Selene's son, and by blood you are. If Aurora's crazy enough, she'll want to go to court about custody over you. It's unlikely she'll win, though, no matter how hard she tries," he added when Silver stiffened up.

"Why's that?" he wondered after he sighed.

"People have to meet certain criteria if they want to adopt a child," he summed up. "In her current state, I doubt she'd be able to take you. But I'm getting off-track, here.

"What I'm saying is... you're not bound by where you came from. Just... look at me," he offered. "I'm a Badnik- a no-good android-copy of someone else. I was created to destroy Sonic the Hedgehog, and other than that, nothing else. I had to make my own purpose for myself to keep going."

Silver nodded slowly, but tilted his head. "I understand... but I _am _her son, right?"

"Well, from where I'm sitting, I'd say you're Silver the Hedgehog, son of Florence the Hedgehog and Vienna Sussiili, brother to Venice the Hedgehog. But that's not up to me to decide that."

He has a point... even if I wasn't adopted... Mom and Dad would still be Mom and Dad, because...

"I... I understand," he managed. "I guess I didn't get what you were saying before."

Though Metal didn't have a mouth, Silver could have sworn he smiled.

* * *

"So you haven't heard from Aurora today?" Helios asked his mother over the phone again. He was checking his wristwatch- around eight-fifty, now. Who knew when Aurora woke up, if she ever went to bed, that is.

_"No, I haven't. Mr. Fukui called me earlier that she called him to ask about where Haku worked... then she hung up."_

Helios sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Mom, she's going to go confront Haku about Selene and Silver. You'd better find her, before she does something dramatic." Theia thanked her son and hung up.

As soon as Helios put the phone down, it started ringing again.

"Did you find her already, Mom-"

"Excuse me," a mechanical voice buzzed. Oh, not a telemarketer- "Is this Helios Phoenicia?"

The golden-orange hedgehog tilted his head. The voice seemed familiar somehow... "Yes... do I know you?" he wondered.

"We met last year, at a little coffee shop. You wanted to talk to Haku about Silver."

"Oh- yes, you're that-"

"Your sister just came in asking for Haku. She doesn't look well."

Helios cursed under his breath. "Is she still there?"

"We'll be happy to stall for you."

* * *

The dining area was empty besides Aurora and Haku; the former looking like a grim head of security, with her hands folded, shoulders squared and her face stern. Haku popped another _kkultarae _in her mouth as Aurora took a strained, deep breath.

"So what's all this about? I thought I already had this conversation barely half a year ago," the gray hedgehog began.

"No, you had this conversation with my parents," Aurora grumbled. "You're going to have it with me now, and I want the truth."

"I told the truth," Haku lied through the sugary treat.

"You told them you never saw the hedgehog but you were entertaining him in your kitchen," Aurora countered, narrowing her eyes. "The truth. What happened to Selene sixteen years ago?"

"She ran away from your family. Started a new one, but didn't make it," Haku sighed. "What more do you want?"

Aurora stiffened, and then stuck out her lip. "You wouldn't understand," she growled.

Haku quirked her eyebrow, wanting to huff- like you would understand as well as I do. You didn't really care about her.

"You know about the father, don't you," Aurora hissed. "Tell me about him, now."

"Why should I do that?" Haku huffed, crossing her legs again. ETA on Helios was ten minutes, at most... she had to stall without making Aurora more upset than usual... Might as well.

"Fine... I didn't know she'd ran away until me and my boyfriend were leaving for Allodole. We were driving around the city when I saw her with a suitcase all by herself."

"A suitcase?" Aurora echoed... "but... there wasn't anything missing from her room."

"It was filled to the brim with money," Haku continued. "She was just wandering around with it. We stopped her and got her to come with us to Allodole."

"Instead of turning her around to us?" she grumbled.

"She's tried suicide around four times over in your care," the gray hedgehog countered. "I figured harboring a runaway was the lesser of the two evils.

"We took her to our hotel and she stayed with us during our vacation there. Then she decided to live with us for a bit... that's when she got pregnant."

Aurora furrowed her brow. "You mean she _lived _with you, and you don't know who the father is?"

"I was running the coffee shop with my boyfriend, and it wasn't like she could tag along with me. She needed space, and she could've met up with anyone- every Friday or Saturday we'd go to a local bar and I'd get plastered, so maybe that's where she met the father, I dunno."

Aurora's face was pursed and she took a strained breath. "I don't believe you," she growled. "You know _something."_

The door opened and someone stepped in, making Aurora freeze up. Confusion flashed across her eyes, and her eyebrows twitched.

"Aurora," an exhausted voice sighed, "what are you doing?" Haku turned her head to see a golden hedgehog with a twinge of orange and spiky hair.

"Hey, Helios," she greeted. "Long time no see."

* * *

"What are you doing, Aurora?" Helios repeated out of earshot of Haku. He put a hand on his head as he sighed. "Don't tell me you're going after Silver, too."

"Who's he?" she wondered- and her brother held his face in his hands. She didn't even know the kid's name.

"You can't wrench him away from his family, Aurora," he mumbled. "He's happy- that's what Selene would have wanted."

"What do you know about what Selene would have wanted?" she said, puffing her chest. "What if she didn't want him? What if the father-"

"I know more about her than you do," he hissed. "I was her big brother. I was supposed to keep her safe... But that's in the past- you need to let her go."

"Not until I find out what happened to Selene!" she spat. "I have to find the father-"

_"Why do you need to know, Aurora?" _Helios barked. "Why can't you just let them be?"

"Because she's still _here," _Aurora hissed. "She's a psychic, remember? She's still with us... we just need to find her-"

_"She's dead, Aurora," _Helios growled. "Dead is dead- she can't be here."

Aurora bit her lip, shaking her head. "No, you don't get it- I need to find her and talk to her-"

"And how exactly are you going to talk to her?" he sighed. "Are you going to ask Grandma how to crossover and back?"

"No... I'll use this," she said, pulling out a wooden board and planchette. "I just have to have more people close to Selene... like her son. That's why I have to find them..." She shoved the board and planchette back into her bag and went back inside the coffee shop. Helios only sighed and dialed his parents to tell them that their daughter had fallen down a rabbit hole to the center of the earth.

* * *

Aurora had sat alone, in between a fire hydrant and a light pole, legs crossed and hands on a board with a planchette in the center. The snow had melted away, and there was still scratches on the sides of the post.

"Is anyone there?" she asked, visualizing a gray shape as she stared at the planchette. Nothing...

"Is anyone there... who will talk to me?" A breeze stirred the planchette, but it stayed still.

"Please... I need to speak to someone who died here... is she there?"

After what seemed like an hour... the planchette glided over to one word.

NO


End file.
